Josh Papali’i was a special guest at Canberra’s post game press conference after it was revealed his wife Mesepa gave birth to a baby boy only a couple of hours before the Raiders’ win over Newcastle.
In a touching gesture from coach Ricky Stuart, Papalii, who last week became the most capped player in Raiders history, was brought out to sit alongside Stuart and great mate Joe Tapine.
Stuart started the press conference by announcing Papalii’s exciting news.
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“The reason I bought Paps along today, an unbelievable sacrifice from Sepa Papalii, Josh’s wife who had a baby boy this afternoon, Jeremiah,” Stuart said.
“It was always going to be touch and go whether Sepa could hang on or what not, but she wanted Josh to go away and play.
“It was an unbelievable sacrifice from a new mother so I thought I’d bring Josh along.”
This led to a round of applause from the media contingent.
“Pretty excited,” Papalii answered when asked by Fox League’s James Hooper how he was feeling after an emotional day.
“Can’t wait to go back and check on the wife and hold my new son.”
“I told Sticky at the start of the week that she was sort of due around tonight.
“I told the room that my missus told me to make sure we come home with the two points and she’ll deliver the baby. I’m glad we done both.”
Stuart quipped: “I’m glad she held her end of the bargain up.”
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The Raiders coach is known for wearing his heart on his sleeve and that was no different following his side’s 22-18 win.
A win which moved Canberra to the top of the ladder as they firm for a historic minor premiership.
Stuart says despite the success, he is keeping his side grounded as they enter the home straight of the regular season.
“We didn’t listen to all the bagging and the criticism and we won’t be listening to all the noise now because there are people out there who still don’t believe,” Stuart said.
”We won’t be listening to any of the hype because we know it’s coming from the same people who were criticising us.
“(Minor premiership) hasn’t been spoken about. We set ourselves some really big goals at the start of the year and we haven’t achieved them yet but we’ve had the courage to talk about it.”
